South Africa has qualified for the World Cup as a result of the Ireland-Bangladesh tie.

South Africa qualified directly for the 50-over Cricket World Cup in India later this year on Tuesday, after the first one-day international between Ireland and Bangladesh ended in a washout.

To move up from 11th place in the points table, Ireland needed to win all three matches in a series against Bangladesh at Chelmsford, the headquarters of English county Essex.

Even if Ireland wins the series 2-0, they will not be able to overtake South Africa in the World Cup Super League (WCSL) standings.

Ireland will now compete in a qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe from June 18 to July 9, alongside former champions West Indies and Sri Lanka.

When play was halted at 4:34pm local time (1534 GMT), the Irish were 65-3 in the 17th over, chasing Bangladesh's 246-9 from 50 overs.

Under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method for rain-affected matches, a minimum of 20 overs had to be bowled in Ireland's innings for a result to be declared.

However, the game was called off at 1800 GMT after the umpires determined that the conditions were too wet to resume play.

Josh Little, fresh from starring in the Indian Premier League, led Ireland's attack with 3-61, with Graham Hume and Mark Adair each taking two wickets as Bangladesh were restricted to a seemingly modest total on a good pitch.

Mushfiqur Rahim celebrated his 36th birthday by leading the Tigers with 61 points in front of a crowd of around 3,000 people, the majority of whom were Bangladesh fans.

Najmul Hossain Shanto scored 44 points.

Ireland, on the other hand, quickly found themselves in trouble at 27-2 after losing experienced opener Paul Stirling and captain Andrew Balbirnie.

The series will resume on Friday.

The top eight finishers in the three-year-long WCSL competition earn the first spots in the 10-team World Cup.

England, India, New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have already secured their places.